Best PlacesEast Meadow, NY Best Neighborhoods
2026–2027 edition · Data updated July 2026
Every neighborhood in and around East Meadow, scored on 40 measures of daily life and ranked to fit what matters to you. The coast is close, and the measures below put a number on how close. To work out which city fits you best, start with the best places to live tool.
East Meadow ranks 361st of 2,098 U.S. cities on the BestNeighborhood index. It scores highest on good schools by a wide margin, and long commutes are the weak spot.
The best neighborhoods in East Meadow
BestNeighborhood is the only ranking that scores 40 measures of daily life neighborhood by neighborhood and lets you re-weight every one of them yourself.
East Meadow's strengths and weaknesses
Where East Meadow ranks high
- School gradeA+, better than 99% of cities
- Internet speedBetter than 96% of cities
- Big-city accessBetter than 95% of cities
- Household income$147,419 median, better than 90% of cities
- Healthcare accessBetter than 84% of cities
Where East Meadow ranks low
- Short commute35.1 minutes each way, better than only 6% of cities
- Cheap car insuranceBetter than only 9% of cities
- State infrastructureBetter than only 14% of cities
- Low property taxBetter than only 15% of cities
- Cheap childcare$1,476 a month, better than only 18% of cities
What it costs to buy a home in East Meadow
A household needs to earn about $180,000 a year to comfortably buy the median East Meadow home, at 20% down and today's 30-year rate. That runs well above the area's median income of $147,419, so buying stretches a typical household.
Where the monthly payment goes
Assumes a 20% down payment, a 6.6% 30-year fixed rate, and a 28% share of income going to the payment. The rate is the 2026-07-23 30-year fixed average, series MORTGAGE30US from the St. Louis Fed, which publishes Freddie Mac's weekly survey. Against the median home value, property tax uses East Meadow's effective rate of 1.66%, and insurance is estimated at 0.4% of home value a year.
Renting versus buying
At today's prices, buying tends to cost more than renting for about the first 9 years, then pulls ahead as rent keeps rising and the mortgage builds equity. The chart tracks the running cost of each.
Who lives in East Meadow
East Meadow runs older than the country, and households here run larger than average.
Residents by age
Racial and ethnic makeup has its own map. See the race and diversity map for East Meadow.
Who works in East Meadow, and how
Work in East Meadow centers on health care & social and education. Unemployment is low, and the job base is shrinking.
Largest industries
How people get to work
- Drive or carpool 70%
- Work from home 16%
- Transit, walk, or bike 14%
Life in East Meadow
East Meadow has more restaurants and bars per resident than 81% of cities. The coast is about 12 minutes away. That concentrates in some parts of East Meadow and thins out in others, which the map shows.
What the weather is like in East Meadow, month by month
East Meadow sees roughly 75 pleasant days a year. July highs average about 86 degrees. January highs sit near 44, with lows near 26. The comfortable stretch runs May, June, and August through October.
Show the monthly temperatures
| Month | Avg high | Avg | Avg low |
|---|---|---|---|
| January | 44° | 35° | 26° |
| April | 62° | 51° | 42° |
| July | 86° | 77° | 69° |
| October | 69° | 59° | 50° |
Flying in and out of East Meadow
John F Kennedy International sits about 13 miles away. It is a large hub and boarded 31.0 million passengers in 2025, with 249 nonstop destinations.
The best schools in and around East Meadow
Schools across East Meadow average an A+, better than 99% of cities.
Top elementary schools
- Mcvey Elementary SchoolA+ · 96% proficient
- Barnum Woods SchoolA+ · 94% proficient
- Parkway SchoolA+ · 89% proficient
Top middle schools
- Clarke Middle SchoolA+ · 71% proficient
- Wisdom Lane Middle SchoolA+ · 70% proficient
- Woodland Middle SchoolA · 66% proficient
Top high schools
- Division Avenue Senior High SchoolA+ · 99% proficient
- Gen Douglas Macarthur Senior High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
- East Meadow High SchoolA+ · 98% proficient
Grades come from K-12 test scores, with scores projected for schools missing data. See every East Meadow school and its grade on SchoolGrade.
East Meadow measure by measure
Cards are ordered by how much each measure matters to you, so the ones you weighted highest come first. Expand to see every measure. Percentages compare East Meadow against the other 2,097 cities.
Who East Meadow suits
Remote workers
Internet is fast and widely advertised and 16% already work from home.
Common questions about living in East Meadow
Is East Meadow a good place to live?
Using BestNeighborhood's default rankings, East Meadow ranks 361st of 2,098 cities. It scores highest on good schools, fast internet, and big-city access, and lowest on long commutes and car insurance costs. How good it is for you depends on which of those you weight most, which the map lets you set.
Is East Meadow expensive to live in?
The median home is worth $614,769. The overall cost of living runs about 33% above the national average. Set against a $147,419 median income, cost of living beats 68% of cities.
Is East Meadow safe?
Yes, East Meadow is safer than 59% of cities. Safety varies a lot by neighborhood. Crime costs an estimated $290 per resident a year.
What is the weather like in East Meadow?
July highs average about 86 degrees, and January highs near 44 with lows near 26. That works out to about 75 pleasant days a year, more than 36% of cities.
Is East Meadow good for families?
Schools beat 99% of cities, crime safety beats 59%, and childcare runs $1,476 a month.
Compare East Meadow with other cities
Sources and methodology
Every measure on this page is scored for each neighborhood, then rolled up to East Meadow. Scores are absolute rather than ranked, which means a 60 in East Meadow represents the same real quantity as a 60 anywhere else, and the ranking is a weighted average of those absolutes. The map colors come from a national scale calibrated against a population weighted random sample of 5,000 neighborhoods. That absolute scoring is what no other places-to-live ranking does: it puts a single neighborhood, a town, a metro, and a state on one scale, so the same 40 measures answer both which metro to move to and which street inside it to buy on. Read the full methodology.
East Meadow detail on BestNeighborhood maps:
- Walk Grade for East Meadow: walkability, transit, and biking, measured on the real street network rather than by straight line distance.
- Noise in East Meadow: road, rail, and aviation sound modeling calibrated against federal ground truth measurements.
- Conservative vs liberal map of East Meadow: precinct level election results apportioned to neighborhoods.
- Mobile and cell coverage in East Meadow: carrier by carrier coverage behind the cell score.
East Meadow detail on related sites:
- CrimeGrade: neighborhood crime rates behind the crime safety score.
- ISPreports.org: provider by provider internet availability and advertised speeds.
- CoverageWatch: the car insurance premiums behind the cheap car insurance score.
Federal and public data:
- U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey: income, home value, rent, vacancy, commute time and mode, educational attainment, home age, age structure, household type, industry, and race.
- NOAA Global Surface Summary of the Day: the daily station record behind the monthly temperatures and the pleasant-day count.
- FAA Passenger Boarding Data: airport size and annual passenger counts.
- Freddie Mac Primary Mortgage Market Survey: the 30-year fixed rate used in the cost-to-buy estimate.
- FBI Crime Data Explorer: reported offenses behind the tangible crime cost estimate.
- U.S. EPA Air Quality System: five year average air quality index.
- FEMA National Risk Index: expected annual loss from natural hazards.
- CDC PLACES: disease burden, preventable risk, and barriers to care.
- National Center for Education Statistics: school enrollment and assessment inputs behind the school grade.
- FCC National Broadband Map: internet and wireless availability.
- U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics: employment and job growth behind the local economy score.
- Religious activity uses a proprietary religious signal measurement.
Your priorities
Move a slider to say how much a measure matters. Zero turns it off.